Title: Address Unknown

Author: Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

Publisher: 1938

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 79

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

In this searing novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly to life the insidious spread of Nazism through a series of letters between Max, a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco, and Martin, his friend and former business partner who has returned to Germany in 1932, just as Hitler is coming to power.

Originally published in Story magazine in 1938, Address Unknown became an international sensation. Credited with exposing the dangers of Nazism to American readers early on, it is also a scathing indictment of fascist movements around the world and a harrowing exposé of the power of the pen as a weapon.

A powerful and eloquent tale about the consequences of a friendship—and society—poisoned by extremism, Address Unknown remains hauntingly and painfully relevant today. 

One of the hosts of my favorite book podcast (Currently Reading) clued me into this book. Somehow I had never even heard of this slim novella. I read through the introduction, the text, and the afterward, and then went back to reread the introduction. I was rendered speechless by the powerful message contained within these pages. On the surface we get an epistolary novel between two friends and business partners. We see what happens when Martin returns to Germany in 1932 and very quickly becomes radicalized to Hitler’s message. The novella lulls you into a sense of familiarity and comfort for the first few letters before hitting you with fascism and intolerance in one angry passage. From there, we see the desperation and anger on both sides with a tragic ending. I most definitely will be recommending this book to all my people. I can see so many parallels to our own time and the lure of the alt-right. Should be required reading for all students. I will have to wait a few years for Arthur to truly grok this one, but it’s on my future reading list for his schooling.

Next up on the TBR pile: